Loughty Dube
21 October 2001
BULAWAYO-Two respected cartoonists from the Zimbabwe Newspapers stable in Bulawayo have resigned over demands by editor Stephen Ndlovu, to produce cartoons ridiculing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, The Standard has learnt.
The two, Boyd Maliki of the Chronicle and Zenzo Ncube of the Sunday News, openly refused to comply with the order.
First to go was Zenzo Ncube who informed Ndlovu when he was still editor of the Sunday News, that he was not interested in producing political cartoons.
"The incident was very telling about the importance of ethics in the journalism profession," said a source within Zimpapers.
Maliki, a respected cartoonist of Nyathi import and export fame, resigned from The Chronicle last week after turning down Ndlovu's request to produce a cartoon ridiculing the opposition.
"Maliki approached Ndlo-vu and told him in no uncertain terms that he would not be involved in any political smear campaign that Ndlovu wanted to embark on," said the source.
Ndlovu, formerly Sunday News editor, became the editor of the Chronicle after its former editor, Edna Machi-rori was fired by infor- mation and publicity minister, Jonathan Moyo, earlier this month.
The two are amongst the first to give up their positions without first being lured with incentives by other news organisations.
Efforts to obtain comment from the two cartoonists proved fruitless by the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, the Ziana newsroom in Bulawayo is being manned by drivers after all its reporters left to join either the ZBC or Zimpapers.
The organisation's former bureau chief, Patrice Makova, left the organisation last week to join the ZBC as their Mutare correspondent.
Senior reporter, Sibongile Ncube deserted Ziana and joined The Sunday News as business editor.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 Zimbabwe Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
